ADJL: We Are Family
by faithwriter23
Summary: First episode after ADJL: Past and Presence! Just a week after the conclusion of the last battle with the Dark Dragon, the Longs and their allies are all left to face the consequences for their actions, with Lian hard to read and harder to adjust and Jake struggling to keep the peace on all sides while still reeling himself from his own scars of past secrets come to light.


_**What up guys, I'M BACK!**_

 _ **So first of all thank you all my supporters of my last story ADJL: Past and Presence; if you haven't read that go read it so this will make sense, or be a rebel but then don't ask me why things don't make sense!So as I mentioned at the end of P &P, my continuation of these characters will be episodic, so these next stories write won't be as long unless I say otherwise. Expect maybe 5-6 chapters at the max and lots of different ideas from each, but since I'm formatting this narrative like I'm continuing the show, yes they all tie together, so pay attention! **_

_**Most importantly for this story is that there will be a lot of Lian development just to get a better sense of the character, so if you don't like that, stop reading now. Also your old favs are about to become kinda problematic, but don't worry, there's plenty of good to both these concepts in my storywriting.**_

 _ **Sit back, relax, and hopefully enjoy, because we're kicking it off with favs already turning problematic! (yay! I suck at intro notes I'm so sorry!)**_

Chapter 1

 _"_ _I mean, who is she anyway?"_

 _"_ _Probably just an imposter, I mean it can't really be true, right? Uncle Lao Shi wouldn't lie about something like this….would he?"_

 _"_ _But he did lie, and it's true! She's one of us…the black sheep of the family."_

 _"_ _Yeah, literally I bet," "I mean did you hear what they've been saying about her? Not_ _ **too**_ _evil, I hope."_

"Lian?"

The girl turned as she heard the familiar rap on the bathroom door, getting up and creaking it open to see her oldest cousin looking back at her.

"You okay in here?" Jake asked, smiling as she looked back at him, "It's almost like you're hiding-come on out though. Everyone's waiting."

"Let them wait then," Lian said bitterly, opening the door a little more to let him in but then closing it as soon as he did, "I do not want to meet them, my family-they do not even want to meet me. Can't you hear them? They do not even like me."

"But they don't even know you!" Jake tried to reassure her, gripping his cousin's shoulders to keep her from shifting nervously anymore, "Come on, how can they make such quick judgement?"

"They can because that is what people do." Lian had stopped being nervous, but now she was cold, stern, steel once again, a mood that still unnerved Jake every time it appeared even after a week of knowing her.

"Human, magical, it doesn't matter anymore, everyone is the same-once you are marked, you are marked-for the light is good, and for the darkness-pariah." Jake felt a cool tingle go down his spine as she looked at him severe, a nerve going through him as she pointed right at that tiny empty hole in his shoulder, the hole that never vanished no matter how he tried to scrub it away or heal it.

"You had better watch out-or next, they'll be speaking of you like they speak of me." And then just like that, her steel suddenly faded back to a more subdue Lian, the girl giving a grim smirk as she looked in the mirror one more time and then opened the door, ushering him out.

"Come on. Might as well face it now."

Everyone lit up as they saw Jake coming down the stairs, then just as quickly hushed as they saw Lian following, all the relatives beginning to whisper again as the pair came to the center.

"Here she is!" Jake greeted everyone as cheerfully as possible to dispel the harsh environment, "She was just hiding in the bathroom because she was so excited, right Lian?"

"You tell the truth because you are terrible at lying, cousin," the girl quickly deflated him, Jake feeling his face falling as the mood continued to sour.

"Hello, everyone," Lian tried herself, raising her voice so she could be heard by everyone, "I'm Lian, your family-"

"Heh," Aunt Cathy chuckled meanly under her breath, "Right." Jake noticed Lian had picked up on it and for a moment moved to ease her, his cousin simply nodding as she cut the woman a mean look.

"Look, I know no one is thrilled I exist, okay, least of all myself. Let's just get down to what's important-where can I stay? Who am I to live with?"

"Lian….." Jake was stunned by her frankness, looking to his family to see their reactions for more hopefully results. Shockingly (to him anyway), the room went completely silent for the first time all night.

"How disrespectful you are," Cousin Shang spoke first, "to this family of yours, to address us so rudely-no." shaking his head, the man grabbed his wife's hand and moved towards the door, everyone else a little stunned at first but then quickly others moving as well.

"No way."

"Our house is already full of disrespectful kids."

"She's just so evil-looking."

Jake looked on in dismay, quickly rushing up to his Aunt Cathy as she tried to leave too with the others.

"Aunt Cathy! What are you doing, you have plenty of room at your house, and she's family-"

"Jake, no!" He was shocked as his aunt pushed him back, her eyes cold as she looked up at Lian but somewhat sympathetic as they went back to him. "Look, I'm already going through a divorce that's been hard on your cousin Gregory; I don't need to add the trouble of a delinquent-to put that mildly as well."

"But you're not giving her a chance-"

"I don't need to," the lady continued, sounding more and more cold as she continued to head towards the door, "I already know all I need to know from her magical transcript. The girl is bad news, Jake. It's bad enough she's been pawned off to you, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to condone her bad actions." Nodding to herself and giving a grim smile, Aunt Cathy was the last relative out the door, Jake slowly looking up to Lian to see her response to such callousness.

"That's what I thought," she sighed, her face stone but her hand gripping the bannister extra tight so her fingers shook, "Nobody. I'll get my bag then."

"Wait!" But Lian was already heading up the stairs again, Jake shaking his head in bitter disappointment as he sat down on the steps and allowed the anger to come for the first time.

"How could they do that, Mom?" he sighed, resting his head on his knees as his parents came up to console him, "I mean we're family for godssakes-I thought that was supposed to mean something!"

"Calm down, Jake, we'll figure something out," His mom said, patting his shoulder as she tried to smile while remaining firm, "One thing's for sure, though, we've got to figure this out soon."

"You sure she can't just stay here?" Jake tried to persuade them again. He'd tried it a couple times now and each time they continued to dodge the subject, each time frustrating him more and more on their rather calm attitude of shunting Lian to foster care or back on the run.

"No!" Both Longs quickly deflected again.

"She can't!" Susan added quickly after for good measure, chuckling nervously as her face grew red.

"Dang guys, tell me how you really feel," Jake snapped a little, slapping his dad's hand away and feeling something unsettling flair up.

"Um, sorry," Johnathan said, looking at his son in worry as he took his hand gingerly back. Worried, and seeing the worried look on his parents face, Jake quickly stood up, bowing his head as he tried to get away.

"No I'm sorry, that-wasn't right-" And with that the teen quickly raced up the stairs, ducking into his room past the inquiring Haley and slamming the door shut, then going over to the mirror to check himself.

"C'mon, c'mon…" Yanking the shoulder of his shirt down, he indeed saw the little circle glowing, that one little dot making his whole body pulse right now, feeling like he was either going to pass out or explode until he felt a hand on his shoulder creeping over to the evil source…


End file.
